Pytash: Jago Ch. 4

             Okay, I've said it once and I'll say it again I love this book! I am finding very few things that I disagree with in this book. On that note I love how Jago addresses the need to address the key elements of a story to better understand. I was admittedly shocked when she said, "I will be the first to admit that a great deal of bad teaching has focused on filling in the blanks on worksheets or anwsering [...] simplistic questions about literary elements" (61). I guess this is due to all of my preconceived notions of what a teacher who loves the classics must teach like; however, this was a nice wake-up call saying old ways don't always work. I agree that these things are essential to understanding stories and agree even more that these elements are often thought of as myths that can only be found with magic. Both of these things must be changed in  order for students to answer one of the most asked questions in school, "Why do I have to know this?" And as far as I'm concerned if we can answer that question, we're golden. Simply being able to answer that question with anything more than, "you just have to" will show students that there is importance in this work the may not lie solely in the English educator's field. Overall this chapter seemed to cap off everything we have been talking about in the class regarding why, what and how to teach literature.
             My one criticism for this chapter comes from the use of Freytag's Pyramid. I think it is nice to be able to organize the story in some cohesive pattern but I think some important elements of the story are being left out. In the rising action and on the journey to the main climax in any piece of literature there are numerous smaller conflicts that have their own rise, climax and resolution. I propose that the triangle should look something like this instead:

 (I know that this is a little fuzzy, I took a picture of my computer with my phone so I could email and download it for this blog.) We have to consider all of the stuff in the rising action and the affects it had on the main climax and resolution as well as the affects on the reader. I think this may have been what Jago was talking about when teaching everything about a piece, like in chapter 6 with the Odyssey. I just wish she would have mentioned it here as well. Finally I must mention the great list of literary terms she gives AND uses in her classroom. I must admit that until college I had very few of the words in my vocabulary, it would have been nice if someone would have helped me put them there sooner! I plan on using this in my classroom because I believe, like Jago, that the familiarity with these words will make learning the literary works much easier.